Watchmen Kink Meme 3. Weeeeeeee.
Rules of the meme:
1. Anonymously post a pairing and prompt you would like to see written. Since this is a kink meme, there is supposted to be a kink involved, but normal well-written prompts should work just as well.
2. Anonymous will respond to your post and write it for you! Art and such is also acceptable/awesome. Multiple people may respond to ( Read more... )
"Why did he have to do that?" Laurie finally bursts out. It would seem random after several minutes of not speaking at all, were it not what they're all thinking. "I mean, I didn't want him there either, but Walter didn't have to push him like that," she continues miserably.
"It really bugged him that Stephen was telling people about the game," Dan says. That much is beyond obvious, but he doesn't know what else to say.
"I think," Adrian says softly, with a sort of hesitancy not usually heard from him, "I think he was afraid he was going to...replace him, or something."
"But that's so dumb," Dan interjects. Laurie makes a disgusted noise of agreement while the others nod. "No one could --" He abruptly goes silent as a shadow falls across the floor of the treehouse.
"Walter!" Laurie cries, jumping up. Walter stands stiffly, hands in his pockets, eyes on the ground, and she looks as if she wants to hug him, but thinks better of it. "What happened?"
"Principal Keene called my parents in," he mutters. "I'm grounded."
They all mutter sympathetically and Jon asks, "How long?" to which Walter only shrugs.
"I told them none of you were involved. But Stephen said...and..." he trails off brokenly, finally forcing himself to look up and utter the next words. "We're not allowed to play at school anymore. I'm sorry." He says it as though each word is an effort to drag from his throat.
He looks almost ready to cry, and Dan is quick to assure him, "It's okay."
"Yeah," Laurie jumps in, "we've still got after school, right?"
Walter shrugs. "I have to get home. Told them I had to come pick up a book. Thought I should tell you guys."
In the following weeks, there's very little Watchmen activity at all. Somehow it just doesn't seem right without Walter. The first few days they try to go back to just talking during recess, planning the adventures they'll have as soon as he's ungrounded, but he mostly only sulks and mutters broodily, refusing to contribute. Finally he stops meeting up with them at all.
"He's not mad at us, is he?" Dan worries.
"I think he's mad at himself," Adrian says.
That's probably true, but it soon becomes clear that Walter will take out his feelings on any available target. Formerly quiet and largely unnoticed, he quickly gains a reputation for picking fights with anyone and everyone, including kids far bigger than he is. Every day he has new bruises and scratches. It's not long before he lands himself in Principal Keene's office again, and Dan overhears two teachers referring to him as the 'terror of the playground.' He wishes his friend would talk to him, but any attempt to start a conversation is met with little more than monosyllabic grunts, that is, when Walter doesn't shrug him off entirely.
Finally, guiltily, they start playing again, though it's not quite the same. Partly it's Walter's creativity that's lacking, but mostly it's just his presence, his energy, leaving the team always feeling incomplete.
Then one day, when they've all sort of silently decided he's not coming back, that he's tired of them or the game, he appears in the clearing. They all freeze, the crushed look on his face telling them they've made a huge mistake.
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There's a moment where they all look at each other, stunned, not knowing what to do or say, then Dan mutters, "Oh, hell," and takes off after him. The rest of them blink after him in surprise. None of them swear much, Dan least of all. They exchange hopeful glances, though -- if anyone can talk Walter into rejoining them, it's Dan.
He chases Walter for several blocks, until they're both out of breath, finally managing to catch the redhead's shoulder and pin him against a wall with more force than he would have expected of himself.
Walter stares back at him miserably. "Let me go, Daniel. I get it, you don't --"
"No," Dan gasps, "you don't. You don't get it at all. We missed you --"
"Don't have to lie. I saw you..."
"I'm not lying," he insists. "We did. We only started playing again because...we didn't know when you were going to be back. We didn't know if you were coming back. You've been avoiding all of us at school."
"Sorry," Walter says, the fight seeming to go out of him, and Dan sighs in relief.
"It's okay," he says. It's not, not really, but it's a start. "Just come back. Please? It's not the same without you."
"Really?" Walter says, looking at him as if trying to gauge his honesty by his face.
"Really," Dan says. "And..." He pauses, because telling Walter what to do never exactly has the best results, and he doesn't want to seem judgmental, but it needs to be said. "And you've got to stop getting in trouble, okay? We need you."
Walter stares at the ground for a few moments, processing, or debating. Finally he meets Dan's eyes, a bit hesitant. "I'll try," he says. It's an apology, an admission, a promise, all contained within those two words. Dan nods.
"So..." he inclines his head back in the direction they'd just come from. Walter nods, and they set off together. The rest of the afternoon is spent in the woods. There's an enthusiasm to their game that they have not felt in weeks, perhaps not since they first started, and all unpleasantness is, if not quite forgotten, at least not spoken of. They are back together and all is right in their little world. It is the first time in a long time that things flow seamlessly, perfectly, the first time they play until sunset and a bit beyond, pushing the boundaries of when they should be home.
Unknown to any of them, it is also one of the last times things will be this good, this simple.
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Will try and be better about updating; I really want to get these kids into junior high so the crushes and teen angst can bloom fully! XD
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poor kid, though
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